May2016

May 4 Istachatta: A cold front went through today bringing 40+mm rain and dropping temperatures. Night lows for the next two nights will be in the low 50s (10-12C) and daytime highs in the low to mid 70s (21-23) and dry. Very nice. The first few days of May were hot and humid with highs in the high 80s to low 90s (32 or so) so this is a welcome late blast of cool dry air. The Swallow-tailed Kites have been around for the last two or three weeks. Beautiful birds.

May 7, Taidong: Just a few flying ants but no mass hatching as yet, though increasing insect activity. Also no sign of the mei yu starting in earnest, though it may be arriving in a few days. 'Sudden Death' tree changing leaf color. Been mostly bloody hot for the last few weeks and no real rain in that time. Need aircon on during day and to sleep and too hot to work in the sun. Good news is that there's only another 5 months to go! Skies have been hazy/smoggy - worst i can remember - today was the first time i've seen Green Island in about a month. No typhoon activity whatsoever - often get an early one around Mother's Day but not this year.

May 8 Istachatta: Deer came out of hiding. I heard what I thought was the horse splashing around in the pond across the way, went to look, and it was three deer. I'd never seen them in the water before.

May 9 Istachatta: Saw a Florida Dusky Pigmy Rattlesnake on the bike trail http://venomoussnakesfl.com/pygmy.htm. Also saw a huge deer running down the trail. Clearly the deer, and snakes, are out. Beautiful weather all week night lows in the mid 60s daytime highs in mid to high 80s.

May 17, Taidong: Had some guest staying at the small house and as i was showing them around i noticed a snake skin on the floor. One of them had already mentioned she was very scared of snakes so i didn't want to mention it. Managed to divert their attention to the rooms for a few seconds and then quickly bend down and scooped it up - felt very much like Basil Fawlty. Apart from that though, not much obvious snake activity this year. 'Cold snap' yesterday - track pants back on level anyway for two days. Were getting some nightly rains before the cold front came through. A couple of isolated torrential, flash flood type falls in the north (150 mil in 2 hours!) associated with the front but just a big north easterly here and only moderate amounts in the week before - though one of them was a very short sharp deluge. Meiyu still doesn't appear to have begun - the fronts that have come still seem to be fast moving coldfronts. A few hornets getting around and saw a rabbit on my land. Still no typhoon activity at all.

May 25, Xing Chang: There has been rain, but nothing dramatic, and so far the Meiyu hasn't really cranked up anywhere on the island - and nothing obvious in the charts for the coming week either - though that can change. Was predicted to be a bumper meiyu but that's not what's happened so far at least. Massive flying ant hatching tonight. Turned all the lights out and went outside for the moonlight but the brightest thing around was my bald head which was attracting lots of them so had to go back inside. There has been some minor hatchings over the last few weeks but tonight was the big one - much later than previous years. First blooms on my Phoenix trees - though they seem to be in full bloom already at other places. Very humid weather, but usually overcast so not super hot yet.

May 25 Istachatta: The night before last I heard the sounds of a large alligator. I'm not sure if it was their mating call or if they just had indigestion, but it sounded just like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAvBADYVb8g. But I heard it at 4:00AM coming out of the pitch black swamp nearby. Right out of some Steven Speilberg movie.. or Stephen King perhaps. I knew the minute I heard it that there was absolutely nothing else it could be. Banana spiders are coming out. EDIT: Just saw a red fox go right through the back yard. Oddly, he must have walked right past the cat that hangs out.

May 30 Istachatta: It's been hotter than it was this time last year, with highs in the low 90s (low 30s) with high humidity. Hot.

May 31, Xing Chang: Meiyu has failed to materialize - nothing sustained over anywhere in Taiwan actually - definitely not here. We had less than a third of our monthy ave rain for May (155 mm - we had 45). Drained the pond for repairs banking on quick meiyu re-fill - hasn't happened - the ducks look at me like i'm the meanest bastard on earth. No alligators sightings yet, haha!